Letters
Okadas banned in Lagos should be done to bodabodas here, too
Boda boda riders at one of the stages
Despite the intense protests by okadas in Lagos, Nigeria, on their ban, the move has held, and many Nigerians are applauding the action by its Government. In Nigeria, the bodaboda are called okadas (meaning that they literally fly over spaces). It follows what the Nigerian Government described as death and disorganization, that the okadas have brought to the streets, especially of the capital city, Lagos. By its estimation, the okadas in the last year alone have caused over 600 deaths and more than ten thousand injures.
A similar sentiment has been voiced here, in Kampala, but the authorities are not paying attention. If you go to the hospitals, more than half the fatalities are cause by the bodaboda riders. On this score, the situation in Lagos is not much different from that one in Kampala.
Some of the reasons the bodabodas have been left to operate are because of sponsorship by powerful people in Government. The case in point is of Abdallah Kitata, who rode roughshod over the people as the boss of a group of bodaboda riders. So we keep on tolerating their death and disorganization on our streets, to the point that they are a traffic law unto themselves.
Abishag Nassuna
Wakiso
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